


Mafia

by beachtowel



Series: "And I would've gotten away with it" [7]
Category: DCU
Genre: F/M, M/M, death mention, mafia mention, murder mention (within the game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 22:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12068169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beachtowel/pseuds/beachtowel
Summary: Diana attends game night at the Wayne manor.





	Mafia

**Author's Note:**

> In case you don't know these games,
> 
> 1st game: “Heads Up,” an app where you guess the word on the card that’s on your head from your friends’ clues before the timer runs out. Can be played individually or in teams.
> 
> 2nd game: “Mafia,” can also be called “Assassin.”  
> The game has two phases; “night”, when the Mafia might secretly “murder” an innocent, and “day” when Innocents vote to eliminate a Mafiosi suspect. The game ends when all the Mafia members are eliminated or when there are more Mafia members than Innocents. Cards are chosen at random in the beginning to assign people their roles. A narrator moderates the game.
> 
> Ace = Mafia member, or assassin.  
> King = detective, or cop.  
> Queen = Doctor.  
> 1-10, J = Regular civilian.

 

Bruce pulled out his phone to open the email notification about the official stock price change in Wayne Foods. He knew stockholders were going to be shifting around since he was told the subsidiary had recently acquired another beef vendor in Argentina and-

Cass elbowed him gently on his arm to get his attention.

“B, can you stay off your phone for one minute, it’s your turn,” Dick called from the other couch.

“Someone take his phone away,” he heard someone else say.

Bruce marked the email to read for that night and then got up to stand in front of his crowd and placed his phone back in his front pocket.

  
“I’m sorry I have responsibilities,” Bruce offered them dryly as he rolled up his sleeves again.

They all groaned in unison. Bruce ducked a soft pillow before grabbing Tim’s phone that Barbara was holding out to him.

Bruce looked at the colorful “Play!” button that was blaring from the screen. “What do I have to do?” he asked liked the cranky old father he was.

They all groaned again.

“C’mon Bruce,” Duke and Tim said at the same time.

“Can’t we just get the point?” Steph asked Tim, who was moderating.

“Bruce, you know how to do it,” Diana said with a knowing smile from the floor.

“Father, it’s like charades!” Damian tried to hide his impatience as he quickly explained the game to Bruce. “You just put the phone on your forehead and your team is going to act out hints of what the word or phrase is so you can guess what it is.”

His son was being sincere with offering him help, so Bruce nodded as he tried to hide his smile.

“Ah, okay. I think I get it.” Bruce looked at the screen again and hovered his finger over the button that started his turn. He waited for a bit to build the anticipation, feeling everyone’s frustration with him grow by the second. He reveled in it. Just as it seemed like he was going to press it, he moved his finger away and looked at his team. “Are you ready?”

“Just start the game you snail of a man!” Roy burst out.

-

The teams for this game were “The Anamolies,” which was made up of Diana, Dick, Stephanie, Damian, and Roy, and “Alpha Squad plus Bruce”, which consisted of Bruce, Barbara, Cassandra, Jason, and Duke. Because he created over 9,000 possible subjects for their revised version of the game, Tim offered himself as moderator and scorekeeper to eliminate a bias on any team.

  
The points have so far been 45-50 in favor of The Anomalies, and Jason was not having it. They were going into the third round and he was determined to win. He pulled their team in for a group whisper while Steph held “Ichthyosaurs” to her forehead and her teammates were making a combination of dolphin, bird, teeth gestures, and various sounds at her.

“Ok, the words are too all over the place. From now on, if the word is abstract, like _creativity_ or _The Eternal Recurrence_ , then we’re going to do this,” Jason wiggled his fingers. “And if it’s something particularly concrete, like a fucking Ichthyosaurs,” Jason nodded at Stephanie, who was still struggling to guess, “then just,” he put his pointer finger straight perpendicular on his palm. “Sound good?”

They nodded to confirm. Barbara intervened with her own whispers. “Bruce, even if you don’t know the answer right away, just throw out guesses so we know where you’re at in your thought process, don’t just shake your head at us.”

  
“Sometimes, I need more information,” Bruce said. “You should switch up the movement of after about three seconds instead of repeating the same movement over and over.”

  
“Stop talking,” Tim called out to them for the nth time that night.

“Okay, but just guess before the timer runs out, jesus,” Jason ignored Tim completely. “And it won’t kill you to actually act out a charade, you know.”

“Wait, what if it’s an event?” Duke whispered into the group, bringing back the conversation to codes, thinking back on how he struggled with San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

“Hm,” Jason thought.

“Quit! Talking!” Tim yelled out to Alphas Plus Bruce. He had already deducted 10 points from them for talking out of turn before.

“Hey, fuck you,” Jason called back.

Tim took off 2 points off of their total.

Barbara punched Jason on the shoulder as Cass gave Jason a polite “finger to the lips” sign. Alpha Plus Bruce sat back silently, watching Stephanie continue guessing for her round. Without another word out of turn, Jason flipped Tim off, and Tim took off another point out of pettiness.

Jason rolled his eyes, then caught Barbara’s hand formed as an C, face down on her palm. That was the “event” signal given, and Duke, Bruce, Cass, and Jason nodded back in unison as The Anamolies seemed to start churning imaginary butter.

-  


“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Damian hissed out at Jason, who raised his eyebrow at the short-tempered child.

“Damian,” Bruce scolded his youngest out of habit at that point.

“It’s bullshit and he knows it, Father,” Damian insisted unapologetically.

“You’re acting awfully defensive, Damian,” Jason said coolly with a raised eyebrow.

  
“Because you’re accusing me of being the Mafia when I know it’s you!”

“How do you know?” Steph asked Damian.

“Because!” Damian paused, and thought it over, “Because Jason’s been accusing everyone else from the beginning! He’s just trying to get the attention off of himself.” Damian made his case, knowing it was weak.

“Damian and Jason are both Mafia,” Tim finally spoke up from the chair. Everyone turned to watch the quiet observer. “That’s the only reason he knows Jason is also Mafia. He’s extremely upset because Jason betrayed and accused him to cover himself.”

A quiet murmur passed through the group as they took in the new speculation. The “dead” characters that were “killed off,” those being Bruce, Cass, and Barbara, looked at each other quietly with a knowing smirk.

“Quiet,” Dick instructed that killed lot, even though they didn’t say anything.

“I’m not Mafia,” Damian insisted again.

“Quiet,” Dick repeated to the players that were still active. “Okay, so we have Jason and Damian accused of being Mafia right now. Anyone else to accuse?”

The active players looked around at each other with suspicious observation. “Okay,” Dick continued. “Jason and Damian will both have a chance to defend themselves, then we’re going to vote. And if I tell you guys to be quiet, you have to be quiet, understood?” Dick asked, trying to be a good moderator. Heads nodded back.  “Jason, you go first.”

“I’m not Mafia,” Jason started.

“Babe, shut the fuck up, we all know it’s you,” Roy spoke up for the active players. “The question here is if Damian is also Mafia with you or not.”

“It’s not me! I give my word!” Damian insisted.

“Hold up, I’m not Mafia!” Jason interrupted Damian. “It’s Damian! He’s been fixated on killing me because I caught him as Mafia two games ago!”

“Jason,” Duke said. Jason turned to his name, expecting an argument of some sort. But after a moment of silence, all Duke offered was a polite “come on, dude. We know.”

“You know what?” Jason sighed. “I ain’t a traitor but I’ll give you guys my opinion. I know you guys are going to kill me this round, but I really, really think you should kill Damian if you know what’s good for you.”

“If that was true and I was Mafia why haven’t I killed you yet then?”

“That’s what I want to know!”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Dick stepped in again. “Damian, you can defend yourself.”

“I am not Mafia!” Damian told the active members. "I know it's Todd."

“How are you sure that Jason is a bad guy?” Tim asked, filled with suspicion.

“Because,” Damian paused, then confessed. “Because I’m the detective. And I checked him, he’s Mafia.”

“You're also Mafia,” Tim said. “you just got caught lying, Damian, because I’m the detective.”  
  
  
A low gasp went through the room.

“What?” Damian said, stunned. “No. You’re lying, I’m the detective.”

“That’s not true. I checked Jason and he is Mafia. But I also checked Diana, Bruce, and Duke in the last rounds and they weren’t it.”

“And you didn’t check Damian?” Steph asked Tim.

“I didn’t. I can check him in the next round but he’s going to try to kill me when we sleep. Whoever’s the doctor, can you save me so I can tell you guys?”

“Wait!” Damian stood up suddenly. “He’s lying! I’m the Mafia!”

Another gasp went through the room at the confession. “No wait, I meant I’m the detective! Drake is the Mafia!” The hollering took minutes to die down.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Steph spoke up. “We’ll kill Jason right now, and then whoever’s the doctor can save Tim just in case and he can check Damian when we wake up again. If it’s him, we’ll kill him next round.”

“Drake! Is! The! Mafia!” Damian’s face went strawberry red.

“Okay, quiet down!” Dick said in the middle of the eruption. Everyone ignored him. “Quiet!” he repeated himself over and over, louder every time until the talking settled.

“My god,” Dick said. “No more talking; we’re going to vote now. I don’t want to hear a SINGLE thing from anyone.” When he was met with silence, he sighed in relief. “Okay, if you vote to kill Jason, raise your-”

  
All the hands of the active players shot up.

“You’re making a mistake, guys,” Jason offered quickly with a head shake.

“Quiet!” Dick scolded him. “Jason, you’re dead now. You can’t say anything anymore.”

“What does that mean to me,” Jason made a face. “Death didn’t stop me before.”

“Aye!” Steph high-fived him.

“Yeah, well, for the game,” Dick said, moving past the reality of Jason’s mortality. “You can’t talk anymore for the rest of the game.”

  
Jason rolled his eyes and scooted his chair back, joining the outer circle of people that have died in the game.

“Okay,” Dick said, turning back to moderate. All eyes were on him to see what the verdict was: if the innocents had won the game or if there was still a Mafia member among them. “It’s night time again, so everyone close your eyes,” Dick said. A disappointing sigh came as the active players closed their eyes, preparing for the next round of accusations and possible death. They all got eerily quiet in hopes that they could catch any clues that would give any information away.

  
“If you are the Mafia, wake up.”

  
As silently as he could, Tim opened his eyes.

He and Jason made eye contact and shared the tiniest of smirks. Barbara looked at both of them and mouthed both of them a spiteful _fuck you_ for killing her the night before. Jason mouthed back a sly _I’m sorry_ .

“Mafia, who would you like to kill?” Dick asked the group with an omnipresent tone to not give anything away.

Tim took a moment to calculate his chances. Now that Jason was dead, he had to decide who their next victim was on his own. When he made up his mind, he made eye contact with Dick, and lightly lifted a single finger and curled it to point at himself before putting it softly back down on his knee.

Cass and Barbara whispered to each other and Dick gave them a stern reminder: “Dead people, you also need to be quiet.”

Dick turned back to Tim. _You?_ He mouthed back to confirm. Tim nodded then closed his eyes.

“Okay, Mafia go to sleep,” Dick said out loud, sticking to the script. “Detective, please wake up.”

This time, Damian opened his eyes. Normally, people with a title would try to stay quiet so they wouldn’t end up victims of the Mafia, but because he had already outed himself and his reputation was on the line, Damian didn’t make the effort to hide that he was the detective.

Damian didn’t wait for the usual and pointed straight at Tim. Dick nodded as he asked what he had to as the moderator, conforming to the objective script to keep everything ominous. “Detective who would you like to check?”

With the suspicion confirmed, Damian got up and shook his fists at the sky as quietly as he could. Even Bruce cracked a smile.

 _Sit down,_ Dick scolded Damian so they could continue. “Okay detective, go back to sleep. Now doctor, please wake up.”  
_  
_

This time Stephanie opened her eyes.

  
Dick kept his head facing straight forward so he could project his voice without giving anything away. “Doctor, who would you like to save?”

  
So far in the game, Stephanie had been saving herself. She hadn’t been hit, but in case she was, she was the only one that can guarantee her safety, and that meant everything. But now, she took a moment to think about it, then with a slow head nod, she gestured at Tim.

  
Dick pointed at Tim to make sure, and Steph confirmed. Dick nodded back and spoke again.

  
“Okay, doctor go back to sleep.”

  
Stephanie closed her eyes until Dick gave the orders to everyone to open their eyes simultaneously.

“Well, you guys, there was an unfortunate accident on patrol last night,” Dick said, creating an imagined scene for the narrative. “There was a banana peel on the floor and while he was chasing a dirty thief by foot,” Dick paused for dramatic effect, “Tim slipped and received fatal injuries.” The players gasped. “But!” Dick added like the story-teller he was. “Luckily, he was able to get help in time and Dr. Thompkins was able to revive him.”

  
An “ooh” ran across the players.

“Oh my god, whoever the doctor is, thank you,” Tim sighed in relief. He turned his attention to Damian with a finger and accused, “You tried to kill me.”

“It’s you! I checked you! I’m the detective and I checked at night and you’re a part of the Mafia!”

“So I just tried to kill myself? Come on Damian we know it's been you now. I checked you and you’re the Mafia! Dick, tell them,” Tim said.

  
“I can’t say anything,” Dick reminded Tim what he already knew.

“Drake, you lying bastard, I didn’t try to kill you but I wish I could’ve. And I want you to know that when this is all over, I’m going to challenge you to a duel on the rooftop to teach you a lesson for being an untrustworthy rat.”

Tim stood up to literally stand his ground. “I only accept if it’s _to the death_!” he spat.

Damian attempted to lunge at the older boy but Duke and Dick stepped in between, with everyone else attempting to de-escalate the situation.

Bruce spoke up with a stern voice. “We’re going to stop this right now if you both can’t remember it is only a game.”

“Yeah, Damian,” Tim antagonized the younger one. “It’s only a game.”

  
When they both finally sat back down again, Roy spoke up. “So…”

  
Dick remembered his role. “Oh right. So who is being accused?”

“Tim _Drake_ ,” Damian said immediately, a wildfire of anger behind his eyes.

  
“Damian _al Ghul_ ,” Tim said, with a frostbite of a look glaring back.

“Right,” Dick assumed. “Is that it, then? No one else?”

  
Duke looked at Roy, who then looked at Steph to see if they were at a consensus.

“....Diana has been awfully quiet this entire game,” Steph pointed out slowly, turning to look at Diana for her reaction.

The Princess of Themyscira blinked twice at Stephanie’s accusation, then smiled in amazement. “You think I am part of the Mafia?”

“You could be,” Steph’s eyes squinted in suspicion.

“Well, Duke has been pretty quiet too,” Roy threw out there.

“Me!? I ain’t Mafia!” Duke shook.

Roy threw his hands up in innocence, “I’m just saying you’ve been quiet, is all!”

“Roy, are you officially accusing Duke?” Dick asked.

“Huh?” Roy looked at Dick, then back at Duke. “...nah, I trust him." Roy squinted. "For this game.”

“I am officially accusing Diana,” Stephanie said.

“I am a civilian, Stephanie,” Diana gave.

“That sounds exactly like something that someone from the Mafia would say…” Stephanie didn’t let up. “Listen, it's not that I don't trust you, but I don't know you to trust you. Makes sense?"  
  
"It does."

"So tell me this, Diana, if that is your real name. What do you think of the Damian-Tim dilemma we have going here then?”

Diana smiled, and gave away a quick glance at Bruce, who was watching silently with an amused interest.

“Well, Stephanie. I think...” Diana started. She looked at Damian and studied him for a while. He had his arms crossed and his glare didn’t move from Tim. “I think that if Damian had been the Mafia, he would’ve made a smarter kill than Tim, who would've been too obvious of an option for him, don't you think?” Damian’s brow furrowed a hair less at the unexpected compliment. “Now, Damian had been showing signs of aggression and frustration,” she continued. “Naturally, our assumption with someone that loses control of their emotional composition so quickly is that they are irrational, which is something that anyone who was trying to frame Damian would take advantage of immediately. And I believe Tim here is known to have a brilliant mind that could come up with a plan such as that almost instantly,” she said, turning her gaze towards Tim. Tim broke his staring contest with Damian to pay better attention to what Diana was saying. “I guess the question I am working through now is: what motive would Tim have to lie about being the detective and wanting to frame Damian?”

Tim looked up and made eye contact with her. “And what have you come up with?”

  
Diana’s amused smile continued. “Either you know who among the rest of us is a part of the Mafia and you are trying to protect that person, or you are a part of the Mafia yourself.”

  
“So are we all under scrutiny now?” Duke asked.

“Only if Tim is trying to protect you,” Diana said with a raised brow. “Is he?”

For a moment, Duke swore he was Mafia. If only to confess to her what he thought she wanted to hear. But the answer he gave them was a simple “no.”

“Well I’m not Mafia,” Stephanie said. “I’m the doctor.”

“I ain’t Mafia, either,” Roy gave his statement. “All I am is a stinking three of hearts.”

“I’m not a part of the Mafia,” Tim spoke up. “But maybe Diana is right about the protection.”

Diana’s suspicious eyes didn’t take anything away from her smile.

“Okay, so we have Diana, Damian, and Tim accused,” Dick cut in. “We’re gonna start with defenses. Damian, wanna go first?”

“Tim Drake is a lying snake who is deceiving you about being a part of the Mafia. I am the detective and Grayson confirmed to me that Tim is the assassin. You would be making a mistake if you vote to kill me. A mistake I will never forgive.”

“Right…  Your turn, Tim.”

“I’m not a part of Mafia.” Tim took a deep breath, looking down with a guilty expression. “But... I admit. I am not the detective, either.” Steph and Roy “ooh”ed lowly at the new information.

“But I know that Damian is not it either.” Tim looked up with determination. “Barbara was. I felt her respond twice on the first couple of rounds when the title was called.” Everyone looked at Barbs with the new information, and she jumped a little at the sudden attention of the entire room, but remained quiet otherwise. “She accused Jason on the first round, and I’m assuming that was because she checked him first. But then she was killed before she could reveal herself to the group.” Tim gulped. “I thought the second Mafia member was Diana for a while, but then Damian lied about being the detective, so I jumped the shark. There just didn’t seem a reason for anyone to lie about being the detective other than to hide he was one of the bad guys. So I lied about being the detective to to expose him, but…” Tim looked up sheepishly. “I think I messed up. I think Diana is the Mafia and I have been inadvertently protecting her from any suspicion by focusing so much on Damian.”

Damian and Steph were each going to say something, but Dick put his hands up to stop them. “No talking, just defenses.” He gestured at Diana. “Okay. Your turn, Diana.”

Diana leaned back with too much casualness for a person that was accused of being a part of the Mafia. She kept a gentle tone when she spoke, offering Tim a compassionate smile.

“You are a very intelligent man, Tim. But it seems like you depended too much on Damian’s emotional reputation to carry our suspicions to his death. And now you’re trying to cover it by creating suspicion among the rest of us. Very brave for a game that requires deceiving a room full of actual detectives, but it seems you’ve been caught now. Because we know now that Damian is innocent, and I know that I am innocent. And if I believe they are innocent too, then that leaves you. You, who is trying to deceive others that I a part of the Mafia when I know, even if no one else does, that I am innocent.Once you realized your partner in crime was going to be killed, you looked for a scapegoat. You tried to kill yourself, hoping that you have swayed the doctor among us, who is Stephanie, to protect you so you could frame Damian. And now you are trying to frame me because I raised suspicion towards you. You already lied about a position you do not have just to gain crowd favor, and you only admitted to the truth once you came under scrutiny. There is no reason to trust you.” She looked at the others for a moment before looking at Dick. “Shall we vote?”

“Yeah,” Dick said, caught up in her voice. “Yeah. Okay, if you vote for Damian as Mafia, raise your hand.”

No one raised their hands.

“If you vote for Diana as Mafia, raise your hand.”

Tim raised his hand. For a second, it seemed like Stephanie was also going to raise her hand. She looked at Tim for a while but when she made up her mind, she moved her hands from the side of her chair to her lap and looked at Dick to continue.

“If you vote for Tim as Mafia, raise your hand.”

Damian’s hand shot up before Dick finished his sentence. Stephanie, Roy, Duke, and Diana followed suit after.

  
After a moment of tension, Tim leaned back with a smile and flipped his card, revealing a red Ace. “So, I need to work on lying,” he shrugged coolly.

The room went ballistic.

“Congrats, Civilians, you won the game!” Dick said. Roy high-fived Diana and Bruce was laughing with Barbara and Cass about the intensity at the end.

“I told you guys!” Damian said over and over again. “Drake, you incessant asshole!”

“It’s just a game, Damian, calm down,” Tim smiled from his place on the couch, grabbing a throw pillow and throwing it straight at Damian with full force.

Damian caught it in time, it barely grazing his nose. He wound up just as Bruce caught his arm.  “Hey, knock it off.”

“If you insist, Father,” Damian said, and threw it straight back when his arm was released. Tim ducked and it hit Jason on the shoulder.

“What did I just say?” Bruce said, astonished at his child’s disobedience.

“Did you not say to knock Tim off the ground?” Damian feigned innocence.

“Enough.” Bruce called out to Tim, who was picking up the dropped pillow. “Enough,” he repeated to Damian.

“Okay, okay, I want to narrate this time,” Jason said above the noise. “Everyone give me back your cards.”

Bruce made his way to Diana. “How are you doing, Princess. Had enough?” he asked quietly.

“Are you kidding? I’m still waiting for my turn to be Mafia,” Diana said with a cunning glint in her eyes.


End file.
